England recall Flintoff

England take on West Indies today in the fifth match of the NatWest Series, a day/nighter at Headingley. For England, it is a must-win encounter, and a defeat could effectively put them out of the competition. After Michael Vaughan's comments on Sunday, before England had slumped to their sixth lowest one-day total, against New Zealand at the Riverside, that England "can win games without Andrew Flintoff", Flintoff has been drafted into the side, although he will be playing purely as a batsman.

The England board had said that Flintoff needed at least two weeks rest to recover from his ankle injury, but England's dismal batting displays against New Zealand and West Indies have prompted his early return. He will replace Antony McGrath in the line-up, while Ian Blackwell, who has contributed just nine runs in two innings so far, could well be replaced by Robert Key, if England look to strengthen the weak middle order. Sajid Mahmood is also being considered for his England debut, ahead of either Blackwell or Ashley Giles.

West Indies, who are six points ahead of England, will go into the match in confident mood, and have retained the same side that won at Trent Bridge on Sunday. However, Brian Lara, West Indies captain, has insisted that his side will not be taking this game lightly. "We are still in the early stages of the tournament and we're looking at this match as a must-win situation and move on from there," he said. "England's worry is not our worry. Our worry is to make sure we qualify for the final early so that we know we are there."

Once again, there is a chance that weather may impact on the day's play, with light rain showers predicted, but England fans will be hoping that the game will last long enough for the floodlights to be turned on, after the last day/nighter at Trent Bridge finished before the sun had set.

West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 Dwayne Smith, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Brian Lara (capt), 6 Ricardo Powell, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 9 Ian Bradshaw, 10 Ravi Rampaul, 11 Jermaine Lawson.

England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Michael Vaughan (capt), 3 Geraint Jones (wk), 4 Andrew Strauss, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Robert Key, 7 Paul Collingwood, 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Darren Gough, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 James Anderson.